raumklang,
I wonder if the problem is caused by the Enhanced video renderer (EVR), or actually the lack of it. Is your XP system fully updated, including ".NET v.3" ?
By default MC uses EVR and it comes with .NET v.3:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=31 (install also the the later updates if not yet installed).
In any case you should provide more details. The usual things would be:
- Post info about the exact file format. By IFO you probably mean DVD video from a VIDEO_TS folder, but AVI is a container format that can contain various kinds of video and audio data. Mediainfo can inspect your files and generate a report:
http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en- Post playback log. Enable logging in Help > Logging... and start & stop playback. Immediately after that go back to Help > Logging... and open the current log file. Post the details here. If the file is too big you can zip it and attach the zip package to your reply. (To attach a file you can click "Additional Options..." when posting.)
- Post the DirectShow graph. Right-click MC's display during video playback and select DirectShow Filters > Copy graph info to clipboard.
- Post your system info from the Help menu. The latest MC17 build has redesigned "System Info". It provides quite a bit more info than before.